Lady Tigers Claim 14th-Straight Sectional TitleThe perfect day for tennis may have been more surprising than the Warsaw girls tennis team winning another sectional championship, Friday. Running its consecutive sectional titles streak to 14, the Warsaw Lady Tigers defeated Columbia City 4-1 at the Tiger Courts, moving on to Tuesday’s Culver Girls Academy Regional. At the regional Warsaw will face Peru, which defeated Wabash 3-2 Friday night in Peru. Along with it being Warsaw’s 14th-straight sectional title, it was also the program’s 24th overall. After making the sectional championship photo session an annual event, Warsaw head coach Rick Orban says the titles haven’t become mundane for him. “It’s still exciting,” he said. “To have a streak like this, it’s never been done before (at Warsaw). You just know someday it’s going to come to an end. Whether we lose or we retire. Everything comes to an end sooner or later.” Entering this season, that streak may have looked to be in jeopardy as Orban only had two returnees with substantial varsity experience, in seniors Jacqueline Sasso and Sarah Boyle. “You always look at it and say, ‘Wow. We don’t have a lot of experience here.’,” Orban said. “We had a rough start to the season. We beat Columbia City 3-2 (in the season opener), but it was a close match. As the season progressed, they got better and better and more and more confident. So was I a little concerned? I’m always a little concerned. I never take anything for granted. Truly, any team can win on any given night.” Making sure his girls didn’t take the rematch against Columbia City for granted, Orban needed to only point to the Bremen Sectional, where Plymouth had its 13-year reign end. Having already defeated Bremen 3-2 in the regular season, the Plymouth Lady Pilgrims were upset by those same Lady Lions 3-2 in the opening match of the sectional. Bremen will now face the Culver Girls Academy in the other regional match Tuesday. “I was stunned,” Orban said about Plymouth losing. “You just don’t know, so you can’t take it for granted. You have to go out and play for every point. That’s why I was so pleased with tonight, because we improved with a 4-1 win after our earlier 3-2 win.” In the regular season, Warsaw got its three wins against Columbia City on the singles courts, and those three won again Friday. At No. 1 singles, Sasso breezed 6-0, 6-0, Boyle won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2 and senior Rachel Alexander dropped just one set in a 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 3 singles. Between the opening match of the season and the sectional title, Orban mixed his doubles teams up, swapping senior Abbi Baum from No. 1 doubles with senior Anna Hall at No. 2 doubles. Making the move midway through the season, both teams have benefitted, with the No. 2 team of Baum and freshman Athena Schlitt picking up a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) against Columbia City. “Halfway through the season, I made the change and it allowed them to work together and be together the rest of the season,” Orban said. “It’s really proven itself. They’ve got a lot of confidence, for both teams.” The No. 1 duo of Hall and junior Camille Kerlin fell 6-0, 6-3 to junior Macie Hinen and senior Sydney Ford, but they’re not alone in that, as the Columbia City tandem is now 19-1 on the year. At the regional, Warsaw will face an unfamiliar team in Peru, but that doesn’t faze Orban. “I never really scout other teams,” he said. “My personal opinion is, you just have to go beat whoever you’re playing.” Taking the weekend to soak in his latest sectional crown, this group stands out to Orban based on its lack of experience coming into the 2014 season. “We have five seniors in the starting lineup, yet experience-wise on varsity, it’s one of the least experienced teams I’ve ever had,” he said. “At the very beginning of the season, I looked at Sarah and Jacqueline and said, ‘OK, I have some experience there.’ But really, the rest of the girls had hardly played any varsity matches. “It was a work in progress,” he added. “I knew that going into the season. I knew we’d get stronger and stronger, at least that’s what you hope for, and we did it.”
